Chocolate Note

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Commission made waves on May 15 by announcing that the senator from the upper chamber of parliament would reveal the identity of those riders are prohibited from using the blood booster erythropoetin (EPO) during the race.

Last month, former French rider Laurent Jalabert was thought to have been one of those involved through a retrospective comparison of test results from 2004 and a list of anonymous samples from 1998.

Jalabert immediately resigned as a television and radio expert for the Tour, which begins on June 29.

Since then, there has been debate in France about the use of the name, the family 1998 winner Marco Pantani, who died in 2004, said they oppose identify motorists.

Union professional cyclists' CPA said Friday that it, too, opposed the publication.

"The publication of the list for the number of doping allegations ... without means of defense," said the union, on the grounds that there is no counter-analysis was possible because the original sample was not there anymore.

However, the senators believed to publish the identity of the riders' and alike can include a list of samples taken at the Tour in 1999, which was won by U.S. rider Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong stripped of his seven Tour victories and banned from cycling for life last year for doping in cycling scandal that plunged into crisis on levels of drug abuse among the peloton.

Commission questioned 84 witnesses under oath, from sportsmen and women for the organizers and anti-doping expert, to "lift the lid" and "break the code of silence" on the subject.

Cycling, with the doping-scarred past, not the only focus, however, with attention also paid particular rugby.

French anti-doping agency considers that the sport is most affected by doping in relation to testing, while football and tennis are also examined.

France football coach Didier Deschamps examined behind closed doors while tennis is under the scanner due to the relative lack of testing at the international level.

The senators are aiming to frame laws on sports and put before parliament for debate next year.